Vitaly Janelt: The Solution to Liverpool's Midfield Dilemma

Ask any Liverpool supporter where this squad still feels light and the answer comes back quickly: midfield.

Not in terms of numbers. In terms of balance.

Andoni Iraola has tried to imprint a high-octane, front-foot style on this Liverpool side. His football demands a ferocious press and a midfield that can both suffocate opponents and calmly stitch together the build-up from deep. Right now, he has plenty of energy, plenty of talent – but not the right blend.

The problem isn’t quality. It’s chemistry.

A Midfield Built in Pieces, Not as a Unit

Individually, you can see how it might work. Collectively, it doesn’t – at least not yet.

Dominik Szoboszlai is made for Iraola’s idea of football. He wants to chase, snap into duels, and hound defenders into mistakes. He thrives when the game is played at full tilt. But to unleash that version of Szoboszlai, Liverpool need someone behind him who can sit, read the game, and start attacks from deeper areas.

Ryan Gravenberch is not that player. He wants to drive forward with the ball, not anchor the structure. He’s a carrier, not a conductor.

Alexis Mac Allister comes closer to the profile Iraola needs at the base. He can drop in, take the ball off the centre-backs, and pass through pressure. Yet even he isn’t a natural long-term solution as a pure holding midfielder in such a demanding pressing system.

The ideal fit on paper might actually be Trey Nyoni. Technically gifted, intelligent, and seemingly built for that deeper role. But he is still a teenager, and the leap from potential to Premier League responsibility in a title-chasing side is enormous. Throwing him in too early risks stalling his development rather than accelerating it.

So Liverpool need a bridge. A player who can knit this all together now, without slamming the door on Nyoni’s future.

Enter Vitaly Janelt

That bridge might just be a Jurgen Klopp pick.

For the first time since taking the Germany job, the former Liverpool manager has named his senior national squad. One of the eye-catching inclusions is Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt – a player Klopp clearly trusts enough to bring into the international fold.

The numbers back that faith.

Janelt has covered the third-most distance in the Premier League this season, racking up 58.8 kilometres. He’s not just running for the sake of it either. He ranks fifth in the league for interceptions, with 3.20 per 90 minutes. Those are the figures of a midfielder who reads the game well, anticipates danger, and has the engine to close it down.

This is exactly the profile Iraola’s system cries out for.

• High intensity? Janelt lives in that space.
• Positionally disciplined? His interception numbers scream it.
• Comfortable operating from deep? That’s where he does his best work for Brentford.

It’s no coincidence Klopp has turned to him for Germany. The former Liverpool boss has always valued midfielders who can run, press, and think at the same time. If Janelt fits that mould for a national side that wants to be aggressive and front-foot, it’s easy to see how he could slide into Iraola’s plans at Anfield.

The Perfect Stopgap – Without Blocking the Future

Crucially, Janelt is 28.

He’s in his prime, experienced enough to walk straight into a demanding environment, but not a long-term roadblock for a talent like Nyoni. He offers Liverpool a ready-made solution for the present while buying time for their most promising young midfielder to grow into the role at his own pace.

Janelt doesn’t arrive as a superstar. He arrives as a specialist. The kind of player who lets Szoboszlai press with abandon, frees Mac Allister to use his creativity higher up, and finally gives Iraola a stable reference point at the base of his midfield.

Liverpool don’t need another name. They need a glue player.

Right now, Vitaly Janelt looks exactly like that.